Black Bear

Oh my goodness, I can't believe I didn't say anything about this until now. Laura and I saw a Black Bear last Sunday night. It didn't see or didn't care about us as it walked past about 100 ft away from us. We were sitting at a little fire pit outside of a restaurant at the Northstar ski resort near the north end of Lake Tahoe where we were spending the weekend to celebrate Laura's birthday.

We were just hanginout out AND chatting, and when I happened to glance a little to the right I noticed a bear walking down off the hill beneath the gondola and heading towards the plaza around us. It was kind of surreal because it wasn't something I expected to see, despite the fact that we were definately in his / her house, and not the other way around. So I casually said to Laura "Hey look, a bear." Laura was up and out of her seat in a fraction of a second, and it didn't take much more of that second for me to finally understand that her move was a really good idea.

We walked about 10 feet over to the front door of the restaurant, probably so that we would have something to hide behind if the bear came towards us, which it did not. The poor guy was just looking for something to eat. The bear sauntered across the plaza and up near the windows of another restaurant. People inside that restaurant got out of their chairs and went to the window to watch the bear, almost like a scene from a zoo. Something must have spooked the bear (maybe all the people running up to the window to check him out?), and he turned around and jogged back towards the hill from whence he came.

The whole encounter was over very quickly, and no one was harmed. It was all very cool and strange, and perhaps lucky for those of us who saw the bear and lived to talk about it. It's so sad that a person can go to the forest to get away from the city, but not expect to see wild life like the bear.

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Anyway we had not been to Lake Tahoe in a couple years, so it was a real nice get away for us, even if it was only for a couple days. The choice to stay at Northstar was kind of a whim; Laura had heard about this new "village" of theirs, and we chose to go check it out. It's quaint, lots of little shops and eateries. The 1 bedroom "condo" we stayed in is located such that you could literally ski in and ski out, which would be totally awesome ... it it were winter, there were snow on the ground, and if I was a competent skiier.

Otherwise the area was generally pretty quiet, which was very nice. There were quite a few mountain bicyclists around because Northstar opens up their "slopes" to the downhill bikers in the summer time. Of course I think this looke like a ton of fun. I'd like to do it, by given my recent accident and definate novice status in the off-road bicycling world, I think it'll have to wait until 1) I actually have my own bike and can develop some skills, and 2) I'm not madly trying to get in shape for a rowing race in Boston.

And so it goes on...

bike crash follow-up

The bloody lip is finally healed. It actually healed up quickly, the only weird part was the scab that formed (on my lip) and looked really ugly for a couple days. It's funny how I've found other bruises on myself that I didn't even know I had in the days since I fell. My front tooth behind my lip was sore, but finally last night and today, after a week, it's starting to not hurt any more. The worst part of it all is turning out to be one of my ribs (I think) on my right side. It started hurting last Friday and got steadily worse over the weekend. I really don't think it's broken, but it's definately bruised. And the back side of the same rib hurts as well, which I'm still not sure is sinply because of referred pain, or there is a possibility that the seat of the bike I was on may have actually hit my back and pushed me forward as I was falling down. Good times.

Plenty to do at work, which of course means I'd rather be somewhere else. Plenty of projects to do at home as well ... stain the new hutch for the bathroom, paint two round tables for the living room, strip and paint the coffe table and entertainment center, paint the downstairs bathroom and bedroom, buy and install ceiling fan in the office, texture and paint the garage, put up cupboards in the garage, install vent fan in the garage, install knobs and pulls on cabinets in the bathroom and laundry, and my personal worst example of procrastinating, the one about which I am most terribly embarrased, MAKE A HOUSING for my damn bus destination sign. Not sure why I felt the need to list these all out here. Sometimes it seems like the only way I'll ever get to them all is to take a couple weeks off of work to get them all done. But we all know that never seems to work out in our favor. Maybe if I lived in Europe and had five weeks vacation time available to me every year. Of course I'd also be paying 50% taxes.

Speaking of money, anybody know how to earn more of it? Ha! I've got goals of paying things off, and they aren't being reached very fast.I'm not saying I want to be filthy rich, at this point I'd be happy to just be even.

Off to eat lunch now.

bloody lip

It's really quite amazing just how many times during a short conversation my teeth bump into one another. I suppose I am noticing this today because yestarday I fell off a mountain bike while riding with coworkers in Fairfield, and although the fall looked pretty bad, my face and specificaly my teeth were there to stop me. Thank goodness my teeth are ok (as far as I can tell so far, anyway). All in all the result is pretty minor, and other than the sternum pain from where I also hit the handlebar as I went ass-over-teakettle, I feel pretty good, and count myself as lucky.

Here's the key: I'd already accepted the fact that I am a novice mountain bike rider, and on many occasions yesterday I got off and walked the bike. Except for one. I walked over a steep down-graded rock, then watched as two of my three buddies completed the rock while still on their bikes. Not wanting this to be the end of it, I had to try again. Which I did. And I fell. It's very strange watching a rock come rocketing towards your face, and not quite knowing what the hell is going to happen. Yes, I am very lucky. And yes I will ride again, but the next time around I won't make a second attempt on a feature or trick that I know I can't do.